


we start to row, and will for as long as this lasts

by be_themoon



Category: Chronicles of Narnia - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:27:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21635845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/be_themoon/pseuds/be_themoon
Summary: Eustace sees his cousin again, for the first time in a long time.
Relationships: Caspian/Lucy Pevensie
Comments: 7
Kudos: 60
Collections: Lucian Exchange 2019





	we start to row, and will for as long as this lasts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hydrangea](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hydrangea/gifts).



“Walk with me, my cousin, won’t you?”

Eustace rises from the knee he’d taken, slowly raising his head, and to his surprise Lucy is already next to him, an alacrity in her that he normally wouldn’t expect in someone her age. Still, perhaps he should have. He hadn’t known Lucy well as long as he would have liked, but it seems suddenly normal of course that she looks almost the way he had last known her, despite the wrinkles and the white of her hair, faded but still somehow bearing the coppery highlights that had always caught the sunlight with such brightness. 

She holds a hand out to him, the grip still strong and sure as she helps him to his feet, and then dips her head forwards and begins to move. 

He follows, watching the sway of her gown. It’s rich, regal, but somehow still very simple. He thinks, perhaps, she could pull the dagger by her side and use it, and that would be the least she would do. 

“It sounded like you and Caspian were -- quite old,” he says once they’ve moved into an empty corridor, and she turns on stairs and gives him a smile backwards, still as bright and warm as he remembers. 

“Oh, quite,” she says, and gestures him to her side, taking his hand as they begin to move upwards. “He is hoping to see you and thank you in person. The loss of our son was difficult, of course. He is very tired.”

“Is it strange to see us, still -- as we were?” Eustace stops, tugging her hand back to him, and she stops and turns to face him. 

“Oh, Eustace. Of course it is, though I suspect it is much harder for you to see me this way.” There’s a pause, and then she tugs him up the last steps of the stairs and onto a bench, sitting next to him, and after a moment she pulls him into a tight hug. “You have done me a great favor twice now, cousin. I will always be grateful for it.”

Eustace reaches out and holds on to her in turn, uncertain how to stop the sudden tears that spring to his eyes. 

“I hope your life has been happy, Lucy,” he manages, and she laughs again, so maternal and kind that it almost doesn’t sound like what he used to hear from her every day. Yet still, it carries echoes. 

“Come with me. Say hello to Caspian, and you will see how happy my life has been.”

So he walks with her, still hesitant but determined, and they arrive at a door and push it open. Inside is Caspian, lying in bed, old and fragile in a way even Lucy isn’t, but his smile as he sees Lucy is warm and bright, and hers as she drops Eustace’s hand and moves to his side is equally so. 

“Rillian has already been here to see his father,” Lucy says, turning around as she takes Caspian’s hand. 

“It is so good to see you again, Eustace,” Caspian says, but his eyes are on Lucy even as he reaches out his other hand for Eustace. 

It feels like intruding, despite being invited in, the warmth and intimacy between them. He moves forwards and takes Caspian’s other hand between both of his, awkward and uncertain, and then leans down and presses his forehead against it. 

“I missed you both so much,” he says, slightly muffled, and then rises. They look content, in a way he doesn’t know how to process, and there are smiles on both of their faces. 

“We missed you too, Eustace, and all of my family,” Lucy says, and it is the first time he has seen a shadow of grief cross her face. “But we have been very happy together, all these years. And you have returned to us our greatest happiness, in the last years of our life.” 

“We owe you a great debt,” Caspian says, and he sits up slowly. “The one great sorrow of our life has been fixed, thanks to you. I cannot thank you enough for that.”

Eustace pauses, and looks at them both. The familiarity in the way they sit next to each other, the clasping of hands. The kindness in both of their gazes as they turn to him. 

“I have never been so happy to see you both,” he says after a stretch, and then takes an awkard seat on the bed. “Please, tell me of your lives. It seems they have mostly been happy.”

Their faces light up, bright and pleased, and they look at each other and then at him, determining who should speak first. It’s Lucy, in the end. 

“Oh, Eustace, I wish you could have seen the coronation.”


End file.
